SpanishPod101.com Blog

One of our long time listeners is a writer in Mexico. Meet, Phylis Collier. She sometimes finds it difficult in some areas to find natives who don’t speak Spanish! That can be real discouraging when you’re trying as hard as Phylis is to learn Spanish.

Hear about how she toughs it out and tries her best to still practice.

“I have been living in Mexico for about three years. I lived in Oaxaca when I first came and my Spanish was coming along really well, mainly because so few people spoke English. However, when I moved to San Miguel de Allende that luxury changed. There are scores of Norte Americanos here and although the upside is more conveniences because of them, most Mexicans encountered in stores, restaurants etc., speak English.

 What I do is to go to the Jardin (what they call the Zocalo here) where you find all the Norte Americanos on benches facing the church, and most Mexicans sitting everywhere else. So I sit “everywhere else” and seek out non-English speaking people. I’ve been fairly successful and my goal is to increase my number of Mexican friends.My biggest problem is that most of them speak Spanish very rapidly, and I have to keep asking “por favor, mas despacio”! That’s why I am so happy to have found SpanishPod 101, because while improving my vocabulary it will certainly help train my ear to this language that I love.

I like being able to replay the conversation over and over, until I really understand every word and phrase, and of course, I speak along with it, improving my accent.

I am about to begin classes again, and I can only think that continuing to use SpanishPod 101 will be a strong supplement.

Estoy agradecida!”

Great job Phylis! Does anyone else have a similar situation? What do you do to practice when facing the odds?

This week we’d like to share a story from John Miller.

John enjoys listening to Spanish while working and had a great experience with being able to use his Spanish to help out a fellow passenger on a plane.

“I came across this podcast via iTunes, in the best of 2008 listings. I am and have always been totally blind, and therefore I obviously learn best through audio. As one who has made repeated attempts to learn this language, I thought your offerings might well help.

Since then, I’ve actually dated a Spanish woman who resided in Madrid. Of course, being in a relationship is a difficult way to learn a language.

I’ve tried other couple online sites that helped a little as well, although according to the woman in Spain their teachings were a little sketchy. So, I eventually left them alone out of fear of learning too much of the wrong thing. However, SpanishPod101 has not let me down yet!

For example, on one of my return flights from Spain I had to help a young woman who knew no English as she attempted to communicate where she needed to go next to the airport workers. Luckily, I knew just enough vocabulary to aid them in sorting the whole situation out, and she ended up on the correct connecting flight. Everyone was very happy with my limited Spanish in that case.

And to wrap this long e-mail up, I listen to the show on my Zen Stone MP3 player to aid me in passing the long hours at my incredibly boring job. I work at a factory for the blind at the moment, although if I can get into grad school I’d start classes this August.Thanks, and it’s a great show!”

Great job John!  Keep up the studying so you can always help out others with your Spanish!